1 Cor 12:3-13 (NRSV)
Read 1 Cor 12:3-13 on biblegateway.com
Verse 3Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says "Let Jesus be cursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except by the Holy Spirit. Verse 4Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; Verse 5and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; Verse 6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. Verse 7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. Verse 8To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, Verse 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, Verse 10to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. Verse 11All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
Verse 12For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. Verse 13For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body-Jews or Greeks, slaves or free-and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Devotion
Yesterday’s text had us looking everywhere in creation for the activity of God’s Spirit. Today we look inward both as individual believers and as the body of Christ, the Church.
The early Church must have been quite different from the average mainline congregation of today. Some years ago we had charismatic members who spoke in tongues and prophesied, but we hear little of that now. Miracle workers? Well, we do have healing services in quite a few congregations but we are careful not to raise expectations very high. The vocabulary of Paul is not so familiar to many of us.
Is God’s Spirit at work among us? Surely, but we are checking off a quite different list: leadership, preaching, teaching, stewardship, music … all very necessary for a Church to thrive. What are the Spirit’s gifts in us? Are we open to the Spirit’s leading? If so, we confess: “Jesus is the Christ.”
Prayer
Lord, you give. We receive. You lead. We will follow. Give of your Spirit so I may serve. Amen.